In 1990, Dolores O'Riordan [ tickets ] was just a teenager when she and her fellow Cranberries bandmates started selling demo recordings containing what would become their best-known hits, "Linger" and "Dreams."

Throughout the subsequent 13 years of fronting that internationally acclaimed rock act, O'Riordan naturally remained a focal point in the media, as well as in the string of videos resulting from those and other hits the band produced over the course of five studio albums.

As early as 1993, O'Riordan and her bandmates found themselves having to dispel rumors about her pending departure from the band to pursue a solo career. But it wasn't until a decade later that The Cranberries would play their last few gigs, several as openers for The Rolling Stones, before its members went their separate ways.

What was initially billed as a temporary hiatus so band members to pursue individual projects has since, according to O'Riordan, become permanent--at least as far as she is concerned. Almost immediately after becoming a self-proclaimed "free agent," the sprightly soprano began a songwriting sojourn that resulted this year in her first solo album, "Are You Listening." The May release contains a variety of tracks on which O'Riordan has portrayed various life-altering experiences, including the death of her much beloved mother-in-law ("Black Widow"), her marriage to Don Burton ("Apple of My Eye"), and the birth of her youngest daughter, Dakota, which inspired her first solo single ("Ordinary Day").

After filling June with more than a dozen live shows across Europe, O'Riordan currently is touring North America.

She recently sat down with LiveDaily to chat about her new project, the tour and some of the events in her life that have influenced her art, post-Cranberries.

LiveDaily: The songwriting for "Are You Listening" took place over almost four years. Which song was completed first?

Dolores O'Riordan: "Apple of My Eye" was first. I wrote that while I was still touring with The Cranberries in 2003. I remember I was out on the road without my husband and my kids, and all I had to keep me company at times was a picture of him I would carry along from hotel room to hotel room. And I wrote that one of those nights when I was on my own, sitting in one of those lonely hotel rooms.

It has been publicized that the song "Black Widow" was created for the "Spider-Man II" movie soundtrack, and ended up on the new solo album instead.

I think the Spider-Man thing is just a rumor, something that developed a life of its own on the Internet. Around the time The Cranberries decided to take a break, I learned my dear mother-in-law had cancer. I remember beginning writing that song on a particularly sad day in October. You know, when you are in your 20s, you think you are going to live forever, but as you get older, you begin to find out there's so much of that disease in the world--it's really very disturbing.

I know for some songwriters it's a hard question to answer, but can you elevate a few of the new songs to being your favorites?

I quite like the piano part on "Black Widow." I had the melody down and I remember playing it for my husband, and he said it's really nice, but it's really weird. And I think that's when we started thinking it might be right for a soundtrack. He said it was "very spidery." Then we started going through what we went through with my mother-in-law and I started putting lyrics to it. The way it all unfolded was such an experimental process for me, never really knowing what it was going to come out like in the end. But, in the end, I really ended up liking it because it is so different, you know?

"In the Spirit" has a similar kind of piano part, and that song was particularly rewarding for me. I wrote it during a period when I was sort of looking for something of my own mind. Over the years, I spent so much time with The Cranberries, touring about and all, and, in a way, I became this famous singer person. But I wanted to know who I really was, what it would be like for me to take away the singer and take away that whole world. And, over that four years, it has been really good, because the self-discovery had a rejuvenating effect on me.

You worked with Morgan Page on a remix of the first single "Ordinary Day." Will that remix be an exclusive, or do you have designs on working with other DJs, producers or remix artists on their interpretations of your new material?

I think it was an experiment to see how it would work out for the sake of making a dance-oriented thing for the teenagers and the dance crowd. I don't have any plans for other remixes.

You collaborated with Zuccero, who also shared the studio with Sting, Eric Clapton and Sheryl Crow on that same remix album. In the process of putting your new album together, did anyone approach you about having any famous guests collaborating?

Nobody approached me because I was completely un-approachable. I was in the forest. I had no email, I just shut the doors on the whole world so I could just have my own private experience. I had spent 15 years bouncing ideas off other people, and I really wanted to prove to myself I could pull it off by myself. It was lovely to just shut the doors on the planet--forget about the fact that I was a singer or entertainer--and suddenly launch this therapeutic process. I used the time to get rid of my own issues, and to talk about my own issues in the music.

Will the musicians who played with you on the album--(Steve Demarchi (guitar), Denny Demarchi (multi-instrumentalist), Marco Mendoza (bass) and Graham Hopkins (drums)--be joining you on tour?

They did their first [live] performance with me on Jay Leno just the other day, and they are a great band. I've known Steve for about 10 years, and Marco for about seven. I've known Denny for awhile, and Graham I just recently met. I'm very fortunate to have them coming out with me. It's going to be great to have the same players on tour who performed on the album with me.

In the process of songwriting or producing, was there a conscious effort to craft certain songs to appeal to perhaps younger fans who might consider a band like The Cranberries a "classic" act?

I don't really think about my work like that. Writing was such a therapeutic process for me. I was just locked away from the world and I wasn't really thinking consciously about the audience that would be receiving the music. If I was, I might not have been so creative with the lyrics, and been so open with my heart. During the process, I had another baby, and I started painting and thinking I might never go back to this at all. For me, it was just about getting myself away from everybody and thinking about my own life.

What artists do you look to for inspiration as a songwriter, or as a really dynamic performer?

There are hundreds of people I think are great performers and songwriters. But I don't think about it much when I put pen to paper and I get down to the piano and it's coming out of my heart and soul. I love David Bowie, but I never consciously sit down and try to write a song like David Bowie, I'm never going to sit down and try and write a song like "Changes." That would sound really false because it wouldn't really be creative. There are so many artists I admire, you know--David Bowie, Metallica, Aerosmith, Bjork, Annie Lennox, David Crosby, Sinead O'Connor--but I don't try to copy them because I think I have my own style and my own gift and I try to keep in tune to that.

Do you see a Cranberries reunion happening down the road?

I don't have any plans for going back for awhile … maybe a reunion tour in 10 years or so.

Wait 20 years; by then, the cheap seats will be up to $500!

(laughing) Yeah, 20 years will be better. The longer you wait the better, actually.

Many singers have split from their bands for solo careers. And it sometimes seems like the media cuts men more slack in the press, while treating female artists like they are starting all over from scratch--to almost make them prove themselves as though they never achieved any level of fame and credibility with their band. What's your take on that?

This is the next step for me and my career. The fans who have heard the new album have come up to me saying they know it's my voice, the voice of The Cranberries, but it's quite different, like nothing I have ever done before. And I think they realize it's a new beginning for me.

Your youngest, Dakota Rain, was born during the process of creating "Are You Listening." Did the pregnancy or her subsequent arrival have any influence on the songs?

Yes, "Ordinary Day" is written about her. But, you know, my children don't really know much about mommy being a singer. I'm the one around the house doing the dishes and making the dinner. We try to keep things pretty normal. I'm really careful about fame because I got famous really young and it didn't affect me really well. I think so many parents hope their children might get into the public eye, and then when the kids are 13 or 14 they can't handle it. You won't find me pushing my kids to be in any of my videos or anything like that. I try to keep them out of the public eye, and keep their feet on the ground.

I'm sure with all the experiences your husband had as road manager for Duran Duran, having his guidance and experience has been really important as well.

It's very good, actually. I think there is something extra special about having your spouse managing your career, because they love you and they're not going to push you too hard. And they know when to pull back on the workload. It's great to have that symbiosis. He supports everything I do, but he doesn't get involved in the creative process. He is more like the agent, talking to me about what is coming up in terms of shows and keeping his eye on the business end of things.

Besides this upcoming tour and further promotion for the new album, what else is on your plate for the coming year? Are you looking ahead to your second solo album?

Absolutely not. If I can manage to go through with this tour, that will be great. I may fall in love with it, and I might go longer, but I really try to live one day at a time. That's my motto--I live in the moment and enjoy what I'm going through now. I'm not going to think about next year because it may never come, right?